Current spell of heat to abate from late Tuesday

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Sept. 24: Even though it is the last week of September, people across the country are experiencing scorching heat. 

On Sunday and Monday, the country recorded a sharp rise in temperatures. “It is scorching here, we cannot say how we can tolerate this heat,” said DN Gartaula of Jhapa. The temperature in Biratmod, Jhapa, reached 38 degrees Celsius, while in Ilam, it was 34 degrees Celsius.

“It might be the hottest day of September in Ilam on Monday,” said Jiwan Subedi, a teacher at Adarsha Secondary School in Ilam. He mentioned that a few days ago when the temperature was 29 degrees Celsius, people in Ilam were surprised, but by Monday, it had climbed to 34 degrees.

According to Rojan Lamichhane, a meteorologist at the Meteorological Forecasting Division under the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM), the monsoon is currently inactive, and there is no depression system at the moment.

The monsoon, trough, remains in the southern part of the country, which is why the heat is increasing across the nation. “The monsoon will gradually become active from Tuesday evening, starting with cloud formation throughout the country,” he said. 

The current trend of rising temperatures is expected to drop starting Tuesday, with the arrival of cloudy and rainy days, he added.

On Monday, the temperature in Birtamod was recorded at 37.2 degrees Celsius, a slight increase from 36.3 degrees Celsius on Sunday. Similarly, the temperature in Janakpur reached 40.2 degrees Celsius on Monday, while Bhairahawa recorded 35.6 degrees Celsius, Simara 36.7 degrees Celsius, Dhankuta 34 degrees Celsius, and Dharan 37 degrees Celsius.

In Kathmandu, the temperature was recorded at 33.2 degrees Celsius on Monday, up from 32.5 degrees Celsius on Sunday.

Meanwhile, our Mahottari correspondent Nagendra Kumar Karna reported that with the extreme heat continuing, Manarashiswa Municipality has declared holidays for all schools under its jurisdiction.

Rajesh Kumar Sharma, Chief Administrative Officer of Manarashiswa Municipality, issued a notice announcing holidays for schools from September 23 to 27. 

According to the decision made on September 22 by the municipality, all community, institutional, and religious schools under the municipality have been given holidays, which will be deducted from their annual vacation days.

About 8,000 students are studying in the 23 community and six institutional schools within the municipality.

In Mahottari, temperatures have been hovering around 35 degrees Celsius for the past few days. 

Similarly, from Sarlahi, our correspondent Janarjan Khatri reported that people in the Tarai districts, including Sarlahi, have been unable to sleep due to excessive heat.

Devi Prasad Adhikari, 73, of Lalbandi Municipality said he had never experienced such heat in his lifetime towards the end of September. “This may be the first time I am suffering from such intense heat. I have not been able to sleep properly for the past week because of it,” he said.

The municipality closed down several schools within its jurisdiction after students began fainting on school premises due to the heat.